The Brilliance!

Thanks to the whole bunch of people who sent us emails about who is behind these awesome pieces of work. His name is Thomas Broome and you can check his site out right here - Thomas Broome. Awesome work…Check the link below for one of my favorites.

What!? Yes! These links are steamin’!

-Epson StylusPro 3800 - Yeah, I just got this printer and it’s ridiculous how nice it is. If you do photography, a printer on this level is not even a question.
-My official ‘Stop using the word ‘creative’ as a noun thread’ on YayHooray. Seriously, art directors of the world listen up.
-Pictures that make you LOL thread on YayHooray. This is truly a gem of a thread if there ever was one on a messageboard. I’ve spent many days revisiting this thread specifically to laugh.
-PBF Comics. A perfect follow-up link to the last one…PBF Comics…what can I say. Seriously hilarious.
-Manystuff. You might think a lot of it is boring (I do too) but every now and then you’ll find some really fresh design on here.
-Watch this over, and over, and over, and over, and over again. And again.
-Jody Morris Photography. Beautiful action sports, music, and lifestyle photography.
-John Dyer Baizley’s artwork. Someone tell this dude to return the messages I’ve sent him on Myspace. Seriously though, if anyone knows John Baizley personally, tell him I’m a fan and would love to talk/collaborate/print his work and sell it as my own/buy him lunch.
-Threadless Store in Chicago. Go support ‘em! Not that they need it, but hey…

That’s that! Oh, one more below.

And another one. Covering all angles, this time heading back to the art world to connect with Josh Keyes. We actually posted about his work not too long ago which is when I was first put-on to his work…and shortly after that we are interviewing him. I really love having a blog for that exact reason. So yeah, his work is amazing, our interview with him is a nice in-depth read, and with accidental perfect timing - he has a bunch of new work releasing in the next couple weeks. Perfect. Check the interview and really check his work on his site rather than out little thumbnails….really awesome stuff. Next level creative. Hope everyone had a good weekend - I had a nice longer one with some travel, refreshing.

Ha, I am not done yet…and people thought Kenny Chensey was gonna out sell them both. People placed bets that Kanye would easily be behind 50. What an interesting moment for hip hop. However being number 1 isn’t really the goal, Stadium Status is the real goal, worldwide. Anywho this post is really about pictures from the weekend and all the cool-guy-whistle-blowing goin on about the GOODLIFE video. Compare the creative director (So Me) and directors (Jonas & Francois) in the credits of D.A.N.C.E. then ask yourself what the big deal is. HA. I guess they bit their own style. Indie mentality kills me. Once I find my camera chord I’ll post a couple pictures from the VMA, Graduation Day run. He’s trying to do pre-internet numbers so everyone re-up their burned copy and be GOOD.

Take a step back and look at this Graduation album as an art installation in a museum. (this is ultimately Hip Hop, some people are calling the artform dead, fyi.) The artwork itself is on another level. Some are familiar with Murakami, others are not. At the end of the day, that artwork that comes along with the album is worth more than the price of the CD, period. As for the music, it really speaks for itself. I would argue there is a lyric on every verse of every song that everyone can identify with. There is a song that fits everyday of the week, from “Can’t Tell Me Nothing”…grinding away at work, to “Champion” when your giving your self a pep talk, to “Drunk and Hot Girls” when Friday night turns into Saturday morning. The videos, geeze. “Can’t Tell Me Nothing” based off the look of those shots. When is the last time you’ve seen those desert rock star shots like that done with a creative twist of the vintage Lambo and color lightning strikes and those fabrics. Or Stronger and the celebration of Akira and the brand new “Goodlife”. I mean the whole bar has been raised up, the music matches the “look” and the fashion is on a higher level. I have been saying, every time I listen to the album it makes me wanna dress better. It just a metaphor for the fact that this album encompasses life, art and style. Sonically this is 2007 and beyond hip hop music. The drums he is using, the synths, the strings at the end of “I Wonder” defines the “you can’t do this at home” sound of the album. I mean the cohesiveness is unmatched, and that cohesiveness stems from his talent as a designer at heart. Dislike individual elements but when you get an art directed package that is so cohesive AND on a MOMA level, the full body of this album is not compromised. In my mind I cannot deny this is one of the greatest hip-hop albums of all time and the only album from the genre that respectively could go up against the likes of U2 & the Rolling Stones in the same sentence. Done and done. Just giving credit where credit is due.

As your local corner-store-king, snack-sultan, and bodega-baller…I have to keep the whole scene plugged into the latest snacking trends. Think like: SnackBeast.com, SnackXHype, etc. Ha…this post is spiraling into something really un-funny, super corny. So, back on topic, I’ve got three snacks to highlight. (1) Panda Raspberry Flavored Confections. My goodness…its like the Louis Vuitton of licorice, no joke. (2) Barnacles from Blue Crab Bay Co. Some crazy spicy trail mix thing with peanuts, roasted pasta spirals, pumpkin seeds and a bunch of other hippie stuff. Super good, seriously. (3) Clif Bar’s Banana Nut Bread. Powerbars? Never heard of them. Clif Bars are the only bars that matter. So that’s that…gone are the Sour Skittles, Mambas and Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. Sancks 2.0, get familiar.

Ha…I really don’t care. I should posted this up last week…I haven’t been posting much lately! So yeah, Apple announces 37 new ipods, discounts every Apple product by 87% and hints at a new ‘iHome’ that will be ‘...insanely great. The best home we’ve ever built with multi-touch, wifi, and the best iPod we’ve ever made…’ Ha, jokes, nerd jokes. But honestly…we’re all thinking there is just going to be a new Nano or whatever…and they refresh the entire line while adding a totally new iPod, touch, and knock $200 off the cost of the iPhone. The wifi store, the nutso Starbucks thing… Apple has just an amazing velocity right now…seriously. I’m very curious as to what happened in the past 18-24 months that made Apple literally just sky-rocket both in social cache as well as just the market share it has now. What 12-30 year old wants a PC over a Mac? Honestly? And then you’ve got the whole customer service thing they are doing…the fact that we get a $100 store credit for buying the iPhone when it first came out makes me love the brand even more. Maybe I’m getting sucked into their perfect marketing…but the letter I linked below is pretty wild - it was announced only 2 days after the keynote! Ha, come to think of it…what if all of this was planned? They knew the $100 discount would be given, etc. Ahhh…Apple, so clever. Long post about my favorite company.

Yeah…I love Saabs. I drive an Aero 9-5 right now, the just-previous body style with the proper lower front end, boxed-out hood, etc…all the Saab elements I love…almost all. It’s not as loud as the old school ‘hair-dyer-turbos’ from the 80s, but its still quite Saabish. So yeah, check the link below to one of my favorite auto blogs, Jalopnik.com – they got a little teaser on it. That picture looks NUTS. I hope they really bring back that old feel. I believe it gets announced tomorrow at the Frankfurt Auto Show…so stay tuned to Jalopnik.com for updates. Or here if I feel like its worth posting about again. ***Remember the Saabs in Dame Dash’s ‘Paid In Full’? Ha…

Man, this is must-see-tv. Just released at Collette I believe is this Marc Jacobs & Louis Vuitton documentary. All behind the scenes footage of him juggling Louis Vuitton and the Marc Jacobs legion of clothing lines. This is what we need more of. Too much of the design world is so secret. I can’t help but think how inspirational this will be. There’s always that possibility it could ruin everything too. Part of what makes this designers & brands seem so un-attainable is because you have no clue what they really do. That’s probably why these aren’t so common place. Hmm…as with everything in Collette, now I gotta figure out how to get this in my hands ASAP. I am looking forward to “ Electrorama” too.

I love how its confusing like: “Porsche Cayman S in a design collaboration with Porsche Design in its first edition.” Ha…either way, this a beautiful car. I’ve been poking around looking at the whole Porsche brand quite a bit more lately. Its really, I guess for me, one of the last true sports car manufactures. They seem so uncompromising compared with other brands. Not to say they aren’t making SUVs (and hybrids now too of course) but they just seem to stick their values more than what I’m seeing with Benz, BMW, AUDI, etc. All those brands are doing crazy, crazy, face-lifts to their models…I wonder if they’ll loose their brand recognition over time because of it? Especially BMW and Benz. Anyway…this Porsche is just stunning. The whole black paint with the tone-on-tone (or is that matte?!) racing strip setup down the middle. DO WANT. Only 777 of this model are being made. Yeah, I took a Cayman S out the other day…yeah, yep…yeah. I want one. ***Speaking of things that are, at the end of the day, a waste of money…check this blog out. Thanks to JS for the link.